wrote:
Shall
I infer from your comments that a ****ty TE probe is better than none
at all?

Yes, definitely.

I have a fuselage mounted TE on my glider, and I'm pretty sure I have a
slight leak (to be fixed this winter). Even so, it's far, far better
than none at all.

Without TE, you pull back on the stick and the vario cries "lift". Push,
and you hear "sink". Even local soaring, this will have you confused
enough to be back on the ground faster than you intend.

Having once flown a club glider with defective TE, so that in practice
it was completely uncompensated, the only way I could soar it was to
turn off the audio and fly by the seat of my pants, looking at the
needle only when established in a circle at a steady airspeed.